(Peng County Scenery)
During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a county seat under Chengdu Prefecture, which was called Peng County.
Peng County, also known as today's Pengzhou City in Sichuan Province, is a county-level county under the administration of Chengdu City.
Peng County is located in the northwest of the Sichuan Basin, north to Longmen Mountain, south of the Qingbai River, here has a long history, more than 3,000 years ago in the Western Zhou Dynasty there were people living and working here, so you see this place is still very livable, Peng County temperature changes little throughout the year, rainfall is also abundant, hydrology is more developed, the size of the river is nearly 100.
Peng County people like to plant peony flowers, Peng County's peony, there is the beauty of wild interest, but also the flower of the big surplus foot, quite rich and noble, the Southern Song Dynasty poet Lu You is more cloudy: peony in Zhongzhou, Luoyang is the first, in Shu, Tianpeng is the first.
Many years ago, the author also went to Peng County by chance, and the local specialty is a kind of lettuce, which has thin skin and thick meat, fresh green and crisp, and tastes very good.
Our story starts from Peng County during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty.
In the twentieth year of Jiajing, in 1541 AD, a man named Tao Cheng successfully joined the Yamen of Peng County and became a scribe in the Yamen.
What is the specific Yamen of the Ming Dynasty, readers and friends have the opportunity to go to the county government of Pingdingshan Ye County, Henan Province to go around, which is the only Ming Dynasty county government building among the only three ancient county yamen that remain today.
This county government of the Ming Dynasty, the structure inside is actually very simple, and there are not many people.
The number one leader of the county government, of course, is the magistrate, and there are two adjutants under the magistrate, one is called the county cheng, and the other is called the main book.
This county is equivalent to the second-in-command.
And the official position of the main book, before the Sui and Tang dynasties, the power was still relatively large, and there was a master book called Xi Chisel Tooth under the rule of Sima Huan Wen of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
By the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the main book basically belonged to the civil servants, mainly responsible for household registration and documents, and the political rights were basically gone.
Then some readers may ask, no, how do I remember that there should be a position called the county lieutenant in the county office, in charge of punishment and arrest work?
It used to be true, but it was abolished at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.
(Ming Dynasty Yamen)
Therefore, the county, the county, the main book, this is the leadership team of a county government in the Ming Dynasty.
And what about the leadership team? Wu Jingzi, a Qing dynasty scholar, wrote in his book "The Outer History of Confucianism":
"I want to think about this New Year's Festival, in the old man's yamen, there are three classes and six rooms, and that one doesn't send a post."
What does that mean? It means that the New Year is over, and these employees in the yamen must come to the county to give gifts.
And these employees belong to an organization called "three shifts and six rooms".
Three classes and six rooms, we have to split it into two parts, the first part is the third class, the three classes are fast, specifically responsible for maintaining law and order, six rooms, divided into ceremonial room, punishment room, household room, workshop, military room, official room six departments, you can understand it as a small six departments of the central court, the central six departments are in charge of the people's livelihood, economy and military, etc., and the six rooms are in charge of the affairs of a county.
The magistrate, the county, and the chief bookkeeper are called officials, and these practitioners in the three classes and six rooms are called officials.
Officials are appointed by the imperial court, which are all officially appointed by the imperial court, and the officials are different, they have no official rank, much like the current contract workers and temporary workers.
Say like, in fact, it's not like, and we must not underestimate these officials, because the magistrate of the Ming Dynasty is a flow official, a short job of two years, a long job of three years and then transferred, they will not be in power in a place for a long time, basically they are all newcomers to the country, and they are transferred to other places before they are familiar, but the small officials are different, the small officials are all natives, their positions are more passed down from generation to generation, and the family has been doing this for generations, their social background is more complicated, and they themselves have a better understanding of the local situation.
For example, if you are a magistrate, these officials are willing to cooperate with you, and your work is better, but if they don't deal with you and want to make things bad, then you can't prevent it.
Therefore, as a magistrate, you must not only rely on these small officials to work for you, but also beware of them holding back their bad intentions to deal with you.
The Tao Cheng we just talked about, he is a scribe in the six-room office, and the main work he is responsible for is the transfer of various personnel in a county of Peng County, you say that he has great power, not very big, because how many official positions can there be in a county, and how many important positions can there be, but you say that he has little power, and it is also very big from some angles, because all kinds of personnel files in a county, and the promotion, appointment and dismissal of the entire yamen, all have to go through the hands of the scribes.
(Clerk's room scribe Tao Cheng image)
For example, if you are from Peng County, if you want to be an official in Peng County, or if you want to seek fame elsewhere, your original files are in the hands of the scribe in the office, and the scribe wants to rectify you, it is very simple, change your file into a mess, and give you a button on the basin, basically your future is gone.
Therefore, taking the scribe as an example, we can imagine that the small officials of the departments of the six rooms, because they can manage some things more or less and have a little authority in their hands, then they can rely on the convenience of their positions to create a way to make money.
The so-called way to make money is nothing more than corruption, as well as extortion and bribery.
Tao Cheng is not a good official, he went to work in the Yamen of Peng County, the purpose was to make money and make extra money, so he started to work hard from the first day of work, crazy money, and that small life was quite good.
A few years later, our second protagonist also appeared, a man named Chen Zuo, who also joined the Pengxian Yamen and worked as a small official in the household.
In fact, to put it bluntly, the oil and water are not too big, but the household is different, because the household is in charge of the county's financial and tax work, which is a department that needs to handle a lot of money and food, and it is easy to embezzle and make money.
Should I say it or not, there are really not many good people in the Yamen of Peng County, the old-timer Tao Cheng is corrupt, and the new employee Chen Zuo is more corrupt than Tao Cheng, and after arriving at the house, he frantically tampered with the accounts, and he made more money in a few months than Tao Cheng in a few years.
This person gathers by like, and things are divided by groups, and there is sympathy between the wise and the sage, and the bad and the bad have long smelled it.
Tao Cheng looked at Chen Zuo and said that you kid is not a good person, Chen Zuo looked at Tao Cheng, he also smiled knowingly, and said buddy, you are also very bad, the two can be said to smell like each other, and soon became acquainted, and then became embarrassed, and began to team up in the Yamen of Peng County all day long to do bad things.
To do bad things, of course, the fewer the number of people, the better, because the more people involved, the greater the risk of exposure, and the reason why Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo want to join forces is because they have to do a big vote next.
In the twenty-fifth year of Jiajing, in 1546 AD, the Yamen of Peng County issued an order to recruit a group of local people in Peng County to work for the Yamen, and the officials and households would handle this matter.
What is a work? To put it bluntly, it is to recruit a group of people in the county and let them come to the yamen to do some chores, such as feeding horses, chopping wood, cooking, watching, delivering letters, or building a house and building a bridge in the yamen, all of which need to recruit people to help.
The yamen apportioned forced labor to the people, so naturally they had to take care of food, arrange a place for people to live, and pay salaries to people, anyway, to put it bluntly, it would cost money.
(Hufang scrivener Chen Zuo image)
Since it costs money, then Chen Zuo of the household can deduct it from it.
So many people poured into the yamen at once, and the organization and arrangement had to be taken care of by the officials, and the work assigned by the yamen was good and bad, some were easy and some were tired, some had clear soup and little water, and some had plenty of oil and water.
For example, there is a common man named Liu Xuan, the assigned job is to deliver letters, this work is more difficult, because you have to often run here and there, over the mountains and mountains to deliver letters, the road is a little easier to walk and you can ride a horse, the road is not easy to walk, then you have to walk the whole way, tired people are simply not worth their lives.
Liu Xuan was unwilling to deliver the letter, so he had to bribe Tao Cheng to change his job, and after Tao Cheng received the money, he arranged another errand for Liu Xuan, and assigned the work of delivering the letter to another person, Liu Benao.
Moreover, on Liu Benao, Tao Cheng can still collect money, because Liu Benao is not among the yamen apportionment work, you see, Liu Xuan is not willing to do the work, Liu Benao is rushing to do it, but Liu Benao wants to send a letter, he needs Tao Cheng to add his name to this personnel information, which has to pay for filial piety.
Later, Liu Benao simply bribed Tao Cheng with a lot of money, so he also mixed up with a catch in the yamen.
It can be said that this time the yamen recruited people to work, Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo were "strong and strong", and they made a lot of money.
Tao Cheng and Liu Zuo were not only able to make money on the apportionment of conscription, but in the yamen, they could also earn money from their colleagues.
For example, there is a fast catcher in the Yamen of Peng County called Wang Tingyong, who is quite old and should retire according to the regulations, but Wang Tingyong doesn't want to leave, because there is money to be made by doing fast fishing, there is a lot of oil and water, and he belongs to the grassroots law enforcement officers, and he has a little face in the society, so he doesn't want to give up this post, so Wang Tingyong found Tao Cheng and gave Tao Cheng a lot of money. Anyway, it will definitely allow the royal court to retire later.
Wang Tingyong saw that Tao Cheng was very reliable, so he introduced his relative Wang Tingmei to Tao Cheng, saying that my relative is a cultural person, can read and write, and there is no problem in being a clerical worker.
Tao Cheng said that there was no problem, as long as the money was in place, it would not matter, so Wang Tingmei bribed Tao Cheng with a lot of money, and Tao Cheng arranged it and directly sent Wang Tingmei to the household as a clerk.
Of course, this is very simple, because Tao Cheng was originally responsible for the personnel work, and as for arranging Wang Tingmei to the household, it is easier to say hello directly to Chen Zuo, who was originally in the household.
Embezzlement, corruption, bribery, meddling in personnel appointments and dismissals, you said that Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo are just two small officials, where did they come from to be so bold?
And this often walks by the river, where are there shoes that don't get wet, people are mixed in the rivers and lakes, and sooner or later they will be beaten, and the two of them do bad things so unscrupulously, aren't they afraid of revealing their stuffing one day?
(Main book: Wang Zhongjie's image)
They are really not afraid, because Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo have already bought off the third-in-command of Peng County, that is, Wang Zhongjie, the chief bookkeeper, and Wang Zhongjie supports them to sit backstage, what else are they afraid of?
Moreover, this leader is not afraid that you will fool the people, not to mention that Wang Zhongjie, the chief bookkeeper, will give them a protective umbrella, even the county and the county order, and they may not know these tricks of the people below, but the problem is that as a leader, if you don't let them do it for personal gain, don't let them make a little money, they won't give you a good job, then you will be affected in the end.
Therefore, it doesn't matter if you fool the people, as long as you don't fool the leaders.
Looking at it this way, Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo are simply unscrupulous, so their illegal and criminal behaviors are getting bigger and bigger.
In the twenty-eighth year of Jiajing, in 1549 AD, it was time for Peng County to pay taxes and grain to the imperial court.
There is nothing to do with paying taxes, but the problem is that the government will not go door-to-door to collect grain, and the people of Peng County must take the initiative to send grain to the yamen on an individual basis.
Then, in the process of transporting grain from the people's homes to the yamen, there is another profession that is apportioned by the yamen, which we call the liberation of households, and to put it bluntly, it is the transportation of grain.
Peng County was rich, and the amount of tax collected by the imperial court was 6,600 stones, so much grain had to be transported by a lot of households, so the Yamen of Peng County found 62 households, and on average, each household had to transport about 1006 stones of grain to the Yamen.
And the people who are responsible for directing and dispatching these households are still Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo.
What's at stake? Because, when these sixty-two households distribute the share of grain transportation, they are not necessarily average, who transports more and who transports less, that is Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo have the final say, and the work of this household is voluntary labor, no salary, then everyone must want to transport less, but if you want to transport less, then you have to find Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo to dredge the relationship, you pay money, your work can be easier, so Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo made a lot of money on this gang of households.
Among the sixty-two households, there are five households, which are worth mentioning separately, namely: Du Shan, Zhang Fenggang, Jiang Huai, Yi Benzhen, and Gong Benzhou.
(Xie Hu Du Shan image)
Why do you want to pull these five people out alone, because these five brothers should not have paid bribes to Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo before joining the work, so their work is very difficult.
How can you say that it is not easy to do it, these unpaid households, for example, they collected ten liters of grain, and when they arrived in the yamen, they caught Wang Tingmei and Chen Zuo in the household and were greedy, and Tao Cheng in the official room was a little greedy.
Of course, the specific embezzlement process may not necessarily be what the author said, but everything remains the same, anyway, to put it bluntly, these embezzled grains will eventually be held accountable to the household.
Either you confiscated all the grain as a household, or you said that you collected everything, but you must have embezzled.
Therefore, after the grain tax work in Peng County was completed, under the corruption of Tao Cheng, Chen Zuo and others, as soon as the accounts were calculated, there was indeed a shortage of 40 stones, 8 buckets and 7 liters of grain.
There is less food, this is a big deal, not to mention whether the imperial court knows it or not, the local imperial historian must not be able to condone this kind of behavior, so a royal historian surnamed Yan who came to Peng County to inspect immediately intervened in the investigation.
If you want to check it, it is not easy to check, because at that time, the positions of the magistrate of Peng County and the county have been vacant, and the work of Peng County has always been presided over by Wang Zhongjie, the chief bookkeeper.
If you want to ask Wang Zhongjie what's going on, Wang Zhongjie won't tell you even if he knows, he will only say that I am a secretary, and I don't know if you ask me.
Therefore, Yan Yushi simply brought Hu Zhi County in Dianjiang County next door and asked Hu Zhi County to handle the case in a different place and investigate the origin of the matter.
Dianjiang County is in today's Chongqing, far away from Peng County, Sichuan, now if you drive, it will take four hours to set off from Dianjiang to Peng County, so although Hu Zhixian was temporarily pulled over, he may not know the inside situation, after some investigation, Hu Zhixian under the inducement of Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo and others, quickly came to a conclusion, this lack of grain, must have been embezzled by the households who transported the grain, because the routine operation of these officials in Peng County is like this, after they embezzled the grain, will shift this responsibility to the resolvers and let the resolvers take the blame for them.
So what are the specific households? Of course, it was Du Shan, Zhang Fenggang, Jiang Huai, Yi Benzhen and Gong Benzhou who did not bribe Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo at the beginning.
(Ming Dynasty county order image)
Hu Zhixian was in a hurry to return to Dianjiang, so he immediately had to arrest these five households and punish them, anyway, it doesn't matter whether you are guilty or not, the important thing is that someone must bear this crime.
Hu Zhi County wanted to cure five crimes to solve the household, and Chen Zuo, the small official of the household, soon smelled the opportunity to make a fortune.
So, Chen Zuo found these five Xie Hu and said that you are finished, and the upper authorities will send someone to treat you for the crime of embezzling money and food, and the small one will be exiled, and the big one will be killed, so if you want to live, make up some money for me, and my brother will give you this matter.
Chen Zuo was intimidated, everyone was scared enough, Zhang Fenggang, Jiang Huai, Yi Benzhen, Gong Benzhou hurriedly took out money to save his life, only this Du Shan, snorted coldly and left, and did not take out a single dollar.
In Du Shan's view, the grain was corrupted by these small officials in your yamen, and now the charge of corruption is deducted from my account, and now the East Window incident has happened, and we want to top the bag, we don't want to top the bag, so we have to pay you a bribe, isn't this? Is there such a bully?
Du Shan definitely didn't give this money.
The remaining four households were given money, Chen Zuo collected money to do things, he first fabricated a non-existent household, named Zhangjiang Benzhou, and then reported Zhang Jiang Benzhou and Du Shan, who did not give money, to Hu Zhixian, saying that the grain of more than 40 stones was embezzled by these two people.
Zhang Jiang Benzhou is a fictitious person, and a fictitious person who does not exist comes out, of course, just to solve the problem of Zhang Fenggang, Jiang Huai, Yi Benzhen, and Gong Benzhou, the four who spent money to keep safe, because Hu County's order only tracked down the grain, not the people, as long as the lack of food was made up, then he would go back to Dianjiang, and Du Shan was unwilling to pay the money, Chen Zuo of course would not care about Du Shan's life or death, and directly offered Du Shan.
Chen Zuo and Hu Zhixian said, saying that the lower officials have found out, it is two people who embezzle food, one Du Shan, one Zhang Jiang Benzhou, Hu County ordered that it would be easy to do if people found out, according to the "Da Ming Law", embezzling imperial grain is a big crime, either these two people will be imprisoned for two years first, and then exiled for five years after being imprisoned, or they will spend money to offset the crime, and if they don't have money to use food to offset the crime, Hu Zhixian I have a lot, and I don't punish too much, so Du Shan and Zhang Jiang Benzhou These two people paid a total of 72 stone of grain to the yamen, and this matter is in the past, I will not pursue my sins.
(Detail of "The Law of the Great Ming")
Zhang Jiang Benzhou was originally fictional, there is no such person on the boundary of Peng County, Hu County ordered the two to be fined a total of 72 stone of grain, so the average one, one person is 36 stone.
The thirty-six stones of Zhangjiang Benzhou, of course, were handed over to the government by Feng Gang, Jiang Huai, Yi Benzhen, and Gong Benzhou, and they paid the money, but for Du Shan, this was a complete disaster.
He couldn't even get the money to bribe Chen Zuo, where did he go to get the thirty-six stone of grain?
If you can't get together the food, it's okay to say that after two years of imprisonment, five years of exile, nine times out of ten you were sent to Liaodong to fight on the border, so will anyone come back alive?
Chen Zuo, Chen Zuo, you are forcing me to death.
However, although Du Shan is an ordinary person, but he is by no means a person who is willing to admit defeat easily, how he thinks how it feels is not a taste, the more than 60 people who transported the grain this time are all fellow villagers, all of them are locals, Du Shan does not say that they all know, but he at least has a familiar face, he has never heard of such a person as Zhang Jiang Benzhou, Du Shan investigated, only to find out that this Zhang Jiang Benzhou is simply made up by Chen Zuo, which is to say that the yamen is because he did not bribe or pay money, so he has to hold on to himself, It's about tidying yourself up.
Since both horizontal and vertical are dead, Du Shan simply broke the net, and he directly sued all these officials of the Peng County Yamen, large and small, with a complaint.
Moreover, the angle of this Du Shan's complaint is very tricky, he did not avenge himself, but directly accused Wang Zhongjie, the chief secretary of the Peng County Yamen, arresting Wang Tingyong, Chen Zuo, the small official of the household, Tao Cheng, and so on, saying that they have been corrupt and perverted the law over the years, embezzled and corrupted, violated all kinds of discipline and law, killed people and oversold goods, revised the money and grain account books, embezzled public funds, interfered in the personnel system, interfered with judicial fairness, etc., it is simply a bad thing to do, which is equivalent to Du Shan alone picking the entire Peng County Yamen.
This complaint arrived at the Chengdu government office in October of the 29th year of Jiajing.
There are a lot of big officials in the Chengdu government, what prefects, push officials, they can accept this case, but the problem is that Du Shan's complaint, he will not say that it will be sent directly to the desk of the prefect's office, and most of the cases will be sent to the officials of the Chengdu government first, when Du Shan's complaint was sent, there were exactly two small officials on duty in the government at that time, one was called Yang Hancai, and the other was called Liu Jinggao.
Yang Hancai's level is a little bigger than Liu Jinggao, Yang Hancai is equivalent to the role of a master, while Liu Jinggao belongs to the miscellaneous messengers.
After Yang Hancai received Du Shan's complaint, he couldn't say that he would take it directly and send it to the prefect, because the prefect was very busy, and many things had to be sorted out by the people below before they could be dealt with by the prefect, and the leader was often not responsible for solving the problem, and the leader was only responsible for giving a result, so after reading the complaint, he understood that Du Shan's complaint was very complicated, not to mention anything else, first of all, he had to call the people involved, that is, all the officials of Peng County to the yamen of Chengdu Mansion for questioning. So he immediately ordered Liu Jinggao to go to Peng County in person, and asked Liu Jinggao to call all the people involved in the case, so Liu Jinggao was equivalent to sending a summons, of course, at that time, it was not called a summons, but a card ticket, which was actually similar in nature.
(Official Liu Jinggao image)
Liu Jinggao got the order, fast horse and light load, without saying a word, he went to Peng County, not far between the two places, we are driving now, we can get there in more than an hour, if Liu Jinggao moves fast and does things reliably, he will be able to bring back a cadre of people involved in the case on the same day.
However, Liu Jinggao had just arrived in Peng County when he was stopped by Liu Benao and Wang Tingyong, the arresters of the Peng County Yamen.
These two people, these are Tao Cheng Chen Zuo's subordinates.
Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo are very skilled, Du Shan ran to Chengdu Mansion to complain on the front foot, and they knew the news on the back foot, and they heard that Chengdu Mansion had sent someone, so they immediately let Liu Benao and Wang Ting use it to stop him.
Their purpose in stopping Liu Jinggao is also very simple, that is, to delay Liu Jinggao's efficiency as much as possible, because Liu Jinggao wants to call the people involved in the Peng County Yamen back to the Chengdu Mansion, and he at least gets the Peng County Yamen to go through the process and announce the order, and if he is not allowed to bring the order to the Peng County Yamen, then this matter can be delayed forever, which means that Liu Jinggao's card ticket has not been delivered.
If the ticket is not delivered, then you can't file a case, and if you don't file a case, then everyone will be fine.
In life, many things can't help but be delayed, and often they can't be delayed again and again.
Therefore, in order to stabilize Liu Jinggao, these little officials in the Peng County Yamen can be said to have done everything they could, using all their might.
Catch Liu Benao quickly set up a bridge and found a woman for Liu Jinggao in Peng County, this woman's name is Zhao, she is bewitching, and she is usually more indecent, Liu Benao said that Lord Liu is tired of traveling and driving, I will arrange a place for you to live first, so he directly sent Liu Jinggao to Zhao's house.
As for the Zhao family, of course, it is a very tempting thing, and Liu Jinggao is fascinated, Liu Jinggao has lived in Zhao's family since then, and the two of them are doing their best, and Brother Liu has long forgotten his work to the clouds.
Liu Benao made a beauty plan, and Wang Tingyong used a small invitation for three days, a big invitation for five days, and arranged Liu Jinggao's food properly, taking Liu Jinggao to the restaurant every day, what is delicious, what is expensive to eat, this is not counted, Tao Cheng and Chen Zuo often visit the door, and it is a gift of a few taels of silver at every turn, of course, to put it bluntly, it is a bribe.
After such a one-stop service arrangement, Liu Jinggao didn't want to leave, he was eating, drinking and having fun all day long, and he almost forgot what his surname was.
These little officials in the yamen of Peng County gradually became familiar with Liu Jinggao, once they had dinner with Liu Jinggao, while Liu Jinggao drank too much, Tao Cheng secretly took out the card ticket on Liu Jinggao's body and took a look, it doesn't matter if you don't look at it, at a glance, Tao Cheng really saw something wrong.
On the card ticket, Du Shan sued Wang Zhongjie, the chief bookkeeper Wang Zhongjie, the clerk Tao Cheng, Chen Zuo, Liu Benao, Wang Tingyong, and the officials of Peng County, large and small, all of them, and sent the horseman to beat the mother-in-law and did not sue him, but on this dense list of defendants, only the name of the household clerk Wang Tingmei was missing.
It is said that Du Shan's hatred is the entire Peng County Yamen, and he can't wait to sue the entire Peng County, but why did he only skip this Wang Tingmei?
(Ancient 吏 image)
Tao Cheng's head turned, and he quickly thought that since he introduced Wang Tingmei to work and let him enter the yamen, Wang Tingmei has always been at odds with his brothers, and he has a very strange personality, and he usually doesn't interact with everyone much, to put it bluntly, he is not a member of the "Peng County Crime Group" at all.
I said, I said that Du Shan, a common man, who is illiterate and can't even write his own name, how can he have the courage to go to the Chengdu Mansion to complain, and he still knows so much inside information? It must be Wang Tingmei, who is backing the water and secretly helping Du Shan behind his back.
Although this is just speculation, it is enough for Tao Cheng, anyway, he didn't like Wang Tingmei, so he simply told Wang Zhongjie, the chief bookkeeper, about his discovery, Wang Zhongjie was also shocked when he heard it, this is a traitor in the organization, so he used his power and found a reason to beat Wang Tingmei hard for 20 boards, and then put him in prison.
The traitor was found out, but the problem is that it is impossible for the people of the Peng County Yamen to support Liu Jinggao for a lifetime.
This Liu Jinggao is not greedy enough, it is not counted if he wants the Zhao family to accompany him every day, the daily expenses are as high as dozens of taels of silver, according to his spending money, the Peng County Yamen will let him spend money sooner or later.
Moreover, the Chengdu government government saw that Liu Jinggao had not come back for such a long time, and soon sent someone else to deliver the tickets.
Therefore, it is useless to just stare at a Liu Jinggao, and the Peng County Yamen has to think of other ways.
At this time, a man named Yan Qian came into their field of vision.
This Yan Qian, who is related to Liu Benao, is also the kind that is quite close, and he is currently working in the torture room of Chengdu Prefecture, mainly responsible for the prison management of Chengdu Prefecture.
So, Liu Benao found Yan Qian, explained the situation, and hoped that Yan Qian could help and make the second card ticket a little later, anyway, to put it bluntly, let Yan Qian delay for a while.
Of course, the work is not done in vain, Peng County Yamen funded, gave Yan Qian a lot of silver, Yan Qian took the money and gladly agreed, after returning to Chengdu Mansion, he immediately found Huang De, the official of the government office, and said to Huang De, Brother Huang, my friend entrusted me to do something, to drag Du Shan's case, I want to send the second card ticket later, I work in prison, I can't manage this matter, you work in the house, you do the office, can you do this thing to achieve your words, so please help me, the benefits are indispensable to you.
After listening to this, Huang De only asked one sentence: Dude, are you crazy?
(Image of the household official Huang De)
Huang De's reaction was not without reason, just because the prefect of the Chengdu Prefecture at that time, the number one in Chengdu, was a person named Jiang Zonglu.
Jiang Zonglu, the father of the word, Jiajing seventeen years of Jinshi, he is a person, he loves to ask for the people's life the most, and his character is as jealous as hatred, Yan Song, a powerful minister during the Jiajing period, was in power, and even characters like Xu Jie had to occasionally stoop to be thieves, but Jiang Zonglu dared to go directly with Yan Song, you can see what kind of person he is.
He is the most unworthy official to bully the common people, you are doing the whole thing under his hands, helping the evil officials to oppress the people, are you not purely dead?
Hearing Huang De say this, Yan Qian was also honest, and he had no choice but to give up on helping the Peng County Yamen.
Yan Qian couldn't help, so the second ticket of the Chengdu government was quickly sent to Peng County by Du Tingyu, a government official.
You must know that once Du Tingyu arrives at the Peng County Yamen and sends the card ticket, these large and small officials in the Peng County Yamen will have to follow Du Tingyu back, if you disobey the order and you don't go, then it's over, then you will be disobedient, and you will become guilty if you are not guilty.
Now, there is no other way, Wang Zhongjie, the chief bookkeeper of Peng County, had no choice but to accept the card tickets, and then sent a few officials to arrest Tao Cheng, Liu Zuo, Wang Tingyong, Liu Benao and others and send them to Chengdu, of course, he himself had to follow.
However, the officials sent out by Wang Zhongjie did not arrest Tao Cheng and others, but ran to Du Shan's house, arrested Du Shan without saying a word, and escorted him to the prison in Peng County.
As for Tao Cheng and others, they had already hid in advance under the instruction of Wang Zhongjie.
What did Wang Zhongjie do when he caught Du Shan? It's very simple, because Du Shan is the plaintiff in this case, after he controls Du Shan, no matter whether it is soft or hard, as long as Du Shan can withdraw the lawsuit and not sue, then the case will be over.
And the rest of Tao Cheng and others were not idle, they bought off the people of Peng County, Gao Ruchong, Duan Zicheng, and Zhao Wei.
What are you going to do with these guys? Preparing for the follow-up, of course.
Once Du Shan withdraws the lawsuit, it doesn't matter if he doesn't sue him, or if he admits that he is falsely accused, then everything will go back to the original point, and Du Shan still owes the yamen thirty-six stones of grain, and at this time, Gao Ruchong, Duan Zicheng, and Zhao Wei can pretend to stand up, saying that we and Du Shan are buddies, and we grew up wearing open crotch pants, and we will help him get the food he owes.
Of course, Du Shan would not know these people at all, and these people were just tool people, so they didn't need to really dig out the grain, and the thirty-six stone grain would be made up by Tao Cheng, Chen Zuo and others out of their own pockets.
This has always been only Tao Cheng, Chen Zuo and others blackmailing and looting money from the people, and I haven't heard that they want to pay back the money for the people, but this time it's different, if you don't take out the money for Du Shan, he will definitely not withdraw the lawsuit, so in order to make Du Shan comply, the Peng County Yamen must let out some blood.
For Du Shan, who is already in prison, this is already the best solution, because the only contradiction between him and the Peng County Yamen is that there is an extra 36 stone of grain that he has to pay for no reason, and now he doesn't have to pay it himself, he is willing to withdraw the lawsuit, and the case can be terminated from this moment.
Everything is fine, it can be said that everything is fine.
Everyone thought that the problem had been solved, but they ignored a very important factor, that is, Liu Jinggao, the official of Chengdu Mansion who came to deliver the tickets for the first time, was still staying at Zhao's house, and this guy didn't go back for so long.
Moreover, Liu Jinggao, who was sent to Peng County for the first time, did not come back, and Du Tingyu, who was sent to deliver the tickets for the second time, did not come back.
(Ancient pleadings, partial)
So why didn't Du Tingyu come back? Because he was originally holding a card ticket, he wanted to bring all these people who Du Shan sued back to Chengdu Mansion for questioning, but under the operation of Wang Zhongjie, the chief bookkeeper of Peng County, Du Shan did not sue again, but even if he did not sue, he had to take back the previous complaint and write another application for withdrawal of the lawsuit, anyway, even if the lawsuit was withdrawn, the process was also very complicated, and it could not be done in one day or two, before the matter was completely over, Du Tingyu had to wait for the final result in Peng County, and after this result, he could return to Chengdu Mansion.
Yang Hancai, who was in charge of sending people to issue tickets in the Chengdu Mansion, didn't know these reasons, so he simply sent another official to Peng County to deliver the tickets, one was to summon the people involved in the Du Shan case, and the other was to find out what Liu Jinggao and Du Tingyu were doing.
The third time to send the card ticket to the officer, called Qi Table.
This Qi table, he doesn't care about thirty-seven twenty-one, he just completes the task, after arriving in Peng County, he immediately found Liu Jinggao and Du Tingyu, and wanted to arrest the two of them back to the Chengdu government to be held accountable, and also bring back all the officials involved in the case in the Peng County Ya.
Qi Biao is menacing, but everyone has a countermeasure.
Liu Jinggao said, it's not that I won't go back, but that there are a lot of people involved in this case, a group of people, who usually can't get together easily, and I have to be notified one by one, so it's not that I didn't do anything, but I didn't finish it.
Du Tingyu and Wang Zhongjie, the chief bookkeeper of Peng County, said the same thing, that is, it is not that we do not go to the Chengdu Mansion, but because the plaintiff Du Shan has stopped suering, he admitted that he was falsely accused, and the case should have been closed a long time ago, and we are dealing with this matter.
Anyway, no matter what, things can still be so confused, Qi Biao went back to report the situation, Yang Hancai of the Chengdu Mansion knew what happened, and he would not issue any more tickets.
However, the matter is not over, because there is another person who has been forgotten, and that is the little official Wang Tingmei who is suspected of being a traitor.
This Wang Tingmei, who was beaten twenty boards, was peeled open at that time, and then squatted in the cell for a long time, quite guilty, of course, he didn't do anything bad, the people in the Peng County Yamen beat him, and it was good to lock him up, but he was suspected of being Du Shan's helper, and now Du Shan's case has been settled, so Wang Tingmei was also released.
Whether Wang Tingmei is Du Shan's helper or not, whether he is the one who gives advice to Du Shan, I don't know very well, but whether it is or not, he was ruthlessly cleaned up by the people of the Peng County Yamen, and he is very resentful, so after Wang Tingmei was released, he found that Du Shan did not succeed and retracted his confession, and these hateful colleagues in the Peng County Yamen were safe and sound, and they could still get away with it, and he was not angry.
However, angry is angry, and he doesn't want to do anything more.
(Image of household official Wang Tingmei)
He knew that he couldn't resist such a group of people, and in front of him was an orderly and well-organized illegal and criminal group with officials under the main book, and if he could compete, he would not have been subjected to the twenty boards before.
But whether to say it or not, catching Wang Tingyong and Liu Benao is not a fuel-efficient lamp, in order to seal Du Shan's mouth before, Tao Cheng and several of them paid for Du Shan's thirty-six stone grain, but Tao Cheng Chen Zuo is higher than them, naturally dig out the small head, the big head can be let Wang Tingyong and Liu Benao take it, these two people took out the food, felt the blood loss in their hearts, and wanted to make up for it, so they targeted Wang Tingmei, the two of them forced each other with power, it was blackmail today and blackmail tomorrow, Wang Tingmei earned ten yuan a day, they had to ask for twenty, This is purely not treating Wang Tingmei as a person.
It's tolerable or unbearable, and the uncle can't bear it anymore!
Because Wang Tingmei was released at that time and still worked in the Peng County Yamen, he took advantage of his position to collect evidence of the violations and crimes of these colleagues, and then went to the Chengdu Mansion in person, and took these criminal evidence to sue all the officials of the Peng County Yamen.
Moreover, Wang Tingmei also shook out the fact that Liu Jinggao was eating, drinking, and having fun in Peng County, not doing his job, delaying his work, and Du Shan was forced to buy by Tao Cheng and others, so he took back the complaint.
It can be said that Wang Tingmei's complaint is more comprehensive, more specific, and more authentic and reliable than Du Shan's complaint, because this time Wang Tingmei directly brought the evidence she collected.
This time, the front-line staff who received the report was Yang Hancai, Yang Hancai looked at the things provided by Wang Tingmei, and knew that this time it must not be ambiguous, the water in Peng County is too deep, he has dealt cards three times before, but he has not been able to get people back, and the case has been cancelled, this time he did not dare to delay, and he reported the case to the prefect Jiang Zonglu.
Everything was finally revealed at this moment.
Jiang Zonglu's eyes were the most intolerant of sand, and when he saw that these large and small officials of Pengxian County were corrupt, accepting bribes, forming parties for personal gain, selling official positions, deducting food and salary, embezzling taxes, oppressing the people, interfering with judicial fairness, and other crimes, he almost lifted the table on the spot.
In the end, Wang Zhongjie, the chief secretary of Peng County, Chen Zuo, a small official of the county government, Tao Cheng, a small official of the bureaucracy, Liu Benao, Wang Tingyong, and Liu Jinggao, a derelict official of the Chengdu Prefecture, and Yan Qian, a junior official of the Chengdu Mansion Torture Room, who had received bribes, were dismissed from their posts, and they were all severely punished.
Even, even Huang De, the household clerk of the Chengdu government, was reprimanded for not reporting his knowledge, and even the Zhao family, who slept with Liu Jinggao, and Du Shan, who originally sued, were also held accountable.
Of course, there are many more petty officials whose names are not mentioned in the case, all of whom have been investigated and liquidated.
Anyway, in a word, the intricate and powerful evil group of Pengxian County Ya has finally fallen.
Careful readers may find that among these officials who have been dealt with, there seems to be a very important role missing, that is, the chief secretary of the Peng County Ya, the actual number one in Peng County, Wang Zhongjie.
We must know that in fact, this Wang Zhongjie is the umbrella of these illegal and criminal elements, and he is the real mastermind behind the scenes, and he deserves the most severe punishment, but in fact, whether it is Du Shan or Wang Tingmei, with their identity and status, it is difficult for them to directly obtain the actual evidence of the crime of Wang Zhongjie, the main bookkeeper.
Wang Zhongjie does bad things, often only can be understood but not spoken, the dirty work is done by the small officials under him, but he is innocent.
Suffering from the lack of evidence, there is no reason for Jiang Governor to clean up Wang Zhongjie, so Jiang Zonglu's opinion on Wang Zhongjie's handling is that if there is no tangible evidence, then let him go back to the main book, also considering that Peng County has not been a county magistrate and a county magistrate, so someone has to be left to preside over the work.
But he never expected that after this Wang Zhongjie was caught in the Chengdu Mansion, he saw that one by one his subordinates had fallen off the horse, the more he thought about it, the more scared he became, he thought that everyone else had been exiled, and it was his turn to kill his head, so he simply took advantage of the unpreparedness and ran directly over the wall.
This time, it's okay, the original innocent is also guilty, and the main book directly becomes a fugitive.
(Prefect Jiang Zonglu image)
The matter of the Peng County Government has finally been dealt with, and the eradication of corrupt officials and evil officials is a good thing, a quick thing, but Jiang Zhifu can't laugh a little.
One Peng County has been solved, but how many Peng Counties will have the same situation in the future?
The magistrate of a county turns a blind eye to the puddle of mud under his rule, and even acts as an umbrella for the underworld forces, and these petty officials will use the power in their hands for personal gain whenever they have the slightest opportunity.
They collude with each other, cooperate with each other, and use each other, they drill loopholes in personnel, they gnaw traces in finance, they loot oil and water on the people, and ordinary people's lower feelings are obstructed by their desperate efforts, and they have become fools' dreams.
The position is not a responsibility for them, but has become an all-encompassing convenience, and they have to find ways to benefit themselves at the slightest opportunity.
Human morality, conflict of interest, human nature, good and evil, are vividly reflected in this not particularly bizarre case.
I remember that there is a very classic dialogue in the TV series "Ming Dynasty 1566", which was questioned by Hai Rui about Jiajing, I excerpted it, and the original text is as follows:
My lord, I lost my father when I was four years old, and my mother kept the festival and brought me up alone.
When he became an official, his mother taught him earnestly, although he had no father, he ate Junlu, and he was his father.
In fact, not only I, Hai Rui, regard the emperor as my father, but everyone in the world regards the emperor as my father.
However, the emperor does not regard the people as his subjects, and since the reuse of the strict party, the eunuchs sent from the 24 yamen in the palace to all levels, from the imperial court to the provincial capitals and counties, all regard the people as fish and meat.
The emperor lived in Xiyuan, bent on cultivating, when to observe the suffering of the people, when to think about it, tens of millions of people, although there is a king but no father, although there are officials and thieves.
The two capitals and thirteen provinces are all hungry and cold babies waiting to be killed, and fish and meat are waiting to be cut.
Do you know your father?
The Ming Shizong Jiajing, who has always been known as the highest IQ and top EQ in the history of the feudal dynasty, once compared the Ming Dynasty to a river, so if the Ming Dynasty is a river, then these petty officials are like leeches one by one.
They are in groups of three or five, densely dormant in the water, anyone who wants to cross the river will be firmly absorbed by them, they go crazy like blood, just like the small officials grew up in the Ming Dynasty state capital and county government these grass-roots administrative units, open fire fighting, doing whatever they want, the people of the whole world.
And all this, Father, do you know?